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The man alleged to have shot and robbed a Billtown Cab Co. driver in 2014 took his opportunity to testify in Lycoming County Court during the fifth day of his trial Monday.
Dante J. Washington, who turns 27 today, allegedly got into Eugene Phillips' cab from Campbell Street on May 15, 2014 and asked to be driven to an alley before shooting him at close range and robbing him around 6 a.m.
The day before the shooting, Washington said he went to the courthouse to set up child support payments and then went to a residence on Hepburn Street to play poker, where he stayed until the early morning hours of the next day -- including the time when the shooting and robbery occurred, he said Monday.
Throughout the trial, the fact that Washington owed money in child support by May 16, 2014 was frequently mentioned and later confirmed. But during his testimony, he said he was never stressed about his finances.
"It was never a concern for me with job support. Never … I just didn't make it down to the courthouse that day."
Washington made a payment through a money order the day he was arrested on May 20, 2014 before going to set up a schedule at a new job, he said.
When Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade asked him how he got the money, Washington said, "probably poker."
An important part of the case that surfaced with Friday's testimony from people who saw him in the home, the poker games occurred around two times a week, Washington said.
"I arrived around 4:30 or 5 p.m.," he said. "Everyone came to the games around 8 p.m., but sometimes a few of us would start earlier."
Washington left the residence after 8 a.m. and didn't leave the poker table very often aside from a smoke break on the porch or to go to the bathroom, he said.
His sister, Karina Washington, saw him around 7 a.m. when he came upstairs to ask for a cigarette, she said during her testimony Friday.
Although Dante Washington said he lived at 679 Campbell St., the house the shooter walked out of the morning of the robbery, during a three week period in 2013, when Assistant Public Defender Nicole Spring asked him if he was there the morning of the shooting he said he wasn't.
But when Wade asked if he spoke to Shannon Aikey, the resident of the Campbell Street residence, the night before or the morning of the shooting, he said he didn't remember.
"She might have called me, but I don't remember," Dante Washington said.
Tracing through Dante Washington's call detail records during the poker game, Wade began his cross examination by pointing out four calls with Maryann Tagliaferri, Washington's girlfriend at the time who said she also was at the Hepburn Street card game.
"These calls were prior to the poker game, correct?" Wade asked. "Why would you be on the phone if you were together?"
"Basically, all that means is I wasn't around her at the time," Dante Washington said. "I could've been outside and she could've been inside … she could've been outside and I could've been inside."
Continuing with citing over two dozen calls he received or delivered throughout the night and into the morning, he ended by explaining there was a gap of no phone activity from 5:15 a.m. to 7:04 a.m. on May 15, 2014 - the period of time the robbery and shooting occurred.
But when Spring asked him to explain the gap, he said, "I'm pretty sure my phone was dead at the time … if it wasn't charging it was on it's way to be."
Before testimony ended in the afternoon on Monday, Wade asked some of the investigating officers to take the stand and explain their experiences with the people who said they saw Washington at the poker game.
When Agent Raymond O. Kontz III asked Karina Washington about the card night earlier this month during an interview, she didn't say anything about Dante Washington coming up to her and asking for a cigarette. "… But you didn't directly ask her if he did?" Chief Public Defender William Miele asked Kontz.
When Agent Trent Peacock interviewed Brianna Cerami on Dec. 13, she allegedly told him that she saw the defendant leave around 5:45 a.m. or 6 a.m. and that he hadn't come back when she went to bed around 8 a.m.
During her testimony Friday, Cerami said police must have mistaken their times, because he was in the house cleaning up when she went to bed.
The trial continues today with closing statements before the jury is sent to deliberate on a verdict.